Trump blackmails world with nuclear war

South Korean Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon, (L), shakes hands with the head of North Korean delegation Ri Son Gwon before their meeting at the Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone in Paju, South Korea on Tuesday.

The United States while accusing and threatening North Korea with nuclear war for developing its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programme has itself outlined new measure to develop its nuclear weapon arsenal which is several hundred times larger and more potent than that of North Korea.

This became evident from the Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) that has been prepared by the Pentagon for President Trump. The NPT is a set of recommendations on nuclear weapons policy issued every eight years. President Trump is expected to make the NPR public during his State of The Union Address that would be delivered at the end of this month.

Jon Wolfsthal, who was special assistant to Barack Obama on arms control and nonproliferation reviewing the NPC, says that it envisages the development of two new types of nuclear weapons and the removal of present restrictions on the use of nuclear weapons against non-nuclear attacks. One is to develop a new low-yield nuclear warhead for US Trident missiles with the intention of deterring Russia from using tactical warheads in a conflict in Eastern Europe.

According to Wolfsthal the modified Trident warhead, with just the primary (fission) part of its thermonuclear warhead, was “totally unnecessary” as the US already has low-yield weapons, B61 gravity bombs and air-launched cruise missiles, in its arsenal.

The United States also proposes to reintroduce a sea-launched nuclear cruise missile, as a counter to a new ground-launched cruise missile the US has accused Russia of developing in violation of the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty. The latter has denied the accusation.

Hans Kristensen, the director of the nuclear information project at the Federation of American Scientists, says that justification for developing the new weapons is illogical: “It assumes that the intelligence community has determined that one or several adversaries out there are gambling that the US would be self-deterred from using a ballistic missile warhead because they have larger yield.

That’s just not the case. We have never, ever heard anyone say that is so.”

Commenting on the suggestion to use low-yield nuclear weapons in response to non-nuclear attacks Daryl Kimball, the head of the Arms Control Association, development of new weapons in the US nuclear arsenal was “dangerous, Cold War thinking”.

Korean peninsula: Talks reduce tension

Talks between North and South Korea has reduced tensions in the Korean peninsula and North East Asia, which faced the threat of even a nuclear conflagration few weeks ago with both Presidents Trump and Kim practicing brinkmanship diplomacy.

The talks took place in the border “truce village” of Panmunjom, where the 1953 Korean Armistice Agreement was signed, and became the first high-level dialogue to take place between the two sides in over two years.

At the talks officials from North and South Korea agreed to hold military negotiations to defuse the border issue reopen a military hotline in the Yellow Sea District and activate exchanges in diverse areas. The negotiations also resulted in the decision of North Korea to send its athletes to the Winter Olympic Games in South Korea’s Pyeongchang.

According to South Korean media South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman Noh Kyu-duk has said that Seoul would consider the possibility of weakening sanctions against North Korea during the Winter Olympics.

The nuclear weapon issue was not discussed as North Korea says it is targeting the United States only. According to the North Korean News Agency prior to the talks, in a New Year Address North Korean President Kim Jong Un has said, “It is not worth stirring up the past and recalling the specifics of relations with Seoul. Instead of this, relations between the North and South must be improved… It is not only about the normalization of the inter-Korean relations, but about the reconciliation of the nation and its free-will unification”.

However, re-unification is a long and complex process which did not figure in the talks. The talks concentrated on smaller issues such as the Winter Olympics and family reunions.

North Korea would require several guarantees before engaging in unification talks. They include the continuation of the nuclear development programme, the withdrawal of US troops from the Korean peninsula and the ending of US-South Korea defense cooperation.

While South Korea wants a peaceful resolution of its conflict with the North, policies pursued by Washington and the pressure it exerts on the South could derail the dialogue between the two Koreas. This is especially so in view of the insulting and intimidating policies of President Trump despite his readiness to meet President Kim in direct talks.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders confirmed that the United States would not be easing its pressure on North Korea. “Our policy with North Korea has not changed. We’re fully committed to continuing to apply maximum pressure and working with all of our partners in the region, including South Korea, who we have a better relationship with now than ever before,” Sanders said. Meanwhile, China and Russia have welcomed the talks.

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